Morgan Scalley Weekly Press Conference: Houston
10/19/2026 1:52 PM | Football
SALT LAKE CITY – University of Utah head football coach Morgan Scalley held his weekly press conference on Monday with members of the media inside the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center.
Selected quotes from Coach Scalley can be seen below. Click here for the full press conference video.
Opening Statement…
"Special day coming up for volleyball this Sunday. Not only are they hosting Colorado at 1 p.m., they're also having a special celebration for Beth Launiere, longtime coach, 36 seasons as a Ute coach, making that program a contender every single year. Amazing coach, so she's going to be honored at that game and if you haven't read her leadership book, you need to read it. It's awesome. Congrats to Beth. Congrats to Sara Akid from women's tennis. Strong performance at the ITA Regionals, which set her up, clinched a spot in the NCAA singles tournament that will be in Georgia in November. Congrats to Sara. Obviously, it's a big weekend for all of the University of Utah as College Gameday is coming to host. I believe this is the seventh time they will be coming to campus. President's Circle is going to be hopping. We know that our fans and our students are going to be great in representing and do you know when the first time was that they hosted College Gameday here in Salt Lake City? 2004, my senior year and if you want to know who the first rhino was, it was Steve Fifita and he scored a touchdown in that game as they handed the ball off to him. So that was a pretty cool experience. Excited. Saturday's game obviously would mark the 100th [consecutive] sellout at Rice Eccles Stadium, so that's pretty cool. In terms of the game that we just played at Colorado, again, can't say enough great things about what that staff did there with Colorado. That defense played lights out, very physical game. We obviously did enough to stub our toe and make it a game. Thought with two minutes and 30-something seconds left in the first half, that could have been a 17-0 game and then another opportunity, three chances in the red zone, come up with six points as opposed to 24-0 going into halftime. Really allowed them to stay in it. The first possession, second half, we give up a long touchdown coming off coverage. Start off on offense with a penalty, so again, self-inflicted stuff that really didn't allow us to get things going. I thought the defense did a really nice job on Devon's turnover of keeping that to a field goal, and that stemmed the tide. And defense from then on out, stop, stop. Offense started to click, and we were able to finish the game. I mentioned the performances of Creed Whittemore and [James] Chenault. Also, Hunter Andrews. I was really pleased with the reps that he got, not only running the football but blocking. That guy is a consistent player for us. Some really good things from that game. Also, some, obviously, things that we need to clean up, but a win is a win, and we'll take it. With that, a little bit more of a preview on Houston, Coach Fritz, so much respect for him, and he's had success wherever he's been. And you see what they're doing. Very veteran group, 6-1 right now on the season. Top 25 team that we're going to be hosting, very good offense and a defense that ranks in the top 10 country in rushing defense. So, 10th in total offense, 12th in scoring offense. They're putting up 39 points a game, sixth in pass efficiency, which you know is a big stat of mine, and then their first and third down conversions. They're sustaining drives by converting on third down and sixth in the country in rush defense. So, doing it on both sides of the ball. This will be a great challenge for us, and we are excited for this."
On how a game like Saturday helps the coaching staff…
"I think, first and foremost, you just need to know, with the communication that goes on, what are the issues? How do we fix them? Can we fix them? Is it just an athleticism issue, which, it wasn't in this game. Some of it was assignments, some of it was them scheming a little bit of what we were doing, and us being able to respond. Colton did a really nice job responding on the defensive side. Offensively, going back and looking at that film, the saying goes, it's never as good as it seems, never as bad as it seems. It was definitely not as bad as it seemed. There were definitely options there that we just missed on, and at the end of the game, third down, clock has to be running. Don't throw that ball. That is completely on us as a coaching staff, making sure that's clear, and so that's one of those as well. But yeah, it's definitely important that the communication is such that okay, you know what the problem is and you know how to fix it, and then we go forward."
On what Wayshawn Parker has meant to the team as a leader…
"Wayshawn has been fantastic. What you don't see is the stuff in practice. His energy in practice, his work ethic in practice. He's not the only one, but man, does he bring so much energy. He's willing to have uncomfortable conversations with people, letting them know what you're giving is not enough and we need more out of you. He's definitely compelling. The more you have of those guys, the better your team will be."
On the pass rush…
"If that hasn't been developed, you're going to have a tough time. The good thing is I think we have good pass rushers. Take a look at the last three games and I know you don't get the film that we get, but how long does it take to on average to get a sack? 2.7 to 3.4. The majority of passes that we have faced in the last three games are under 2.7. The quarterback is getting it out, and maybe because they know that we pressure, right? And so either that or RPOs, right? RPOs are going to be a lot quicker. And so what you're looking for as a the defense is are we being disruptive? Are we batting balls down? Yes, we have a number of pass breakups at the line of scrimmage and you saw some at Colorado, Bennee being one of them coming off the edge under pressure, and then the other thing is, are you forcing the quarterback to throw the ball before he wants to throw it? Yes, we're getting hurries now. If there was a large bulk of plays where we've got a four-man rush and he's got longer than 3.4 seconds to throw the ball, those are the plays we need to identify and say, what is the issue? Why are we not getting home? And the good thing is there's just not a lot of those. So, with the pressure that we are creating, we're forcing them to throw the ball sooner than they like, and we're batting down balls. We're getting interceptions. So again, I believe in the country we're still in the top 10 past efficiency defense, which is where we want to be."
